The UK Competition and Markets Authority is investigating online gambling sites for their consumer practices including promotions and user terms.
The investigation comes after concerns raised by the UK Gambling Commission about potential breaches of consumer law, including misleading promotions and unfair terms, being used by firms to block players’ payouts, the CMA said in a press release.
The CMA issued Information Notices under consumer protection legislation requiring evidence from companies as a first step to establishing whether enforcement action is required. It is also asking people who use gambling sites and have experienced such issues to provide it with further material.
“Gambling inevitably involves taking a risk, but it shouldn’t be a con,” said Nisha Arora, CMA Senior Director for Consumer Enforcement. “We’re worried players are losing out because gambling sites are making it too difficult for them to understand the terms on which they’re playing, and may not be giving them a fair deal. We are now investigating to see whether firms are breaking the law.”
The CMA said complaints have raised concerns that advertised promotions lure in gamblers while players have little chance of winning due to unfair and complex conditions. These can include terms that require people to play for longer than they had bargained for before they can withdraw money.
The CMA said it is also concerned that players may not be able to withdraw what remains of their deposit, and any winnings, when they want to stop playing. Companies having a wide discretion to cancel bets or alter odds after bets have been accepted, because they made a mistake when the odds were first set. The CMA is investigating whether the terms operators rely on in cases such as this are fair, the release said.
The Gambling Commission said approached the CMA to work with them to address the complaints and the two have agreed on a joint program to ensure terms are fair and transparent.
About 5.5 million people in Britain gamble online, the release said.
In another matter, revised licensing conditions and codes of practice have gone into effect this month that requires gambling operators to “conduct an assessment of the risks of their business being used for money laundering and terrorist financing” and then implement “appropriate policies, procedures and controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.”
The provisions also require gambling operators to account for the use of digital currencies, put in place policies and procedures relating to payments by digital currencies, as well as by cash and other cash equivalents, to “minimize the risk of crimes such as money laundering, to avoid the giving of illicit credit to customers and to provide assurance that gambling activities are being conducted in a manner which promotes the licensing objectives.”
“We think that the most effective regulatory approach is to focus on the outcomes we expect operators to achieve. In some areas we specify particular rules or processes, but where possible, we aim to allow licensees to take differing approaches to meet our requirements. This includes using rapidly developing technological tools and data analytics,” the Gambling Commission said in a statement.
Ina related matter, NetBet Poker has become the first sportsbook and casino licensed by the UK Gambling Commission to accept Bitcoin for bets on its products.
“We have been looking at digital currencies for some time now,” said Alexandre Mangaud, a spokesman for NetBet in a press release. “It has a growing user-base and was something we wanted to offer our customers. Since Bitcoin is new to the regulated gambling industry in Europe, we’ve worked closely with our payment processing partners to ensure that the addition of this new payment method meets the UK Gambling Commission regulatory requirements.”
